The Best PS Vita Games

The finest Vita titles for gaming on the go.

With the slimmer iteration of the PlayStation Vita launching in North America, now is as good time as any to check out the catalogue of games available for Sony's handheld console. We've put together a list of some the best games currently out on the Vita to keep your handheld gaming experience going. Keep checking back on this page to see what our updated picks for best games on the Vita are. In the meantime, let us know what you think of our current choices in the comments below.

"Whether it's entirely true or not, classic games from the NES era are remembered as being far more difficult than the average game today. 1001 Spikes goes all out when attempting to re-create that sense of intense challenge, making a game that not only looks and sounds like one from the 8-bit era, but plays like it as well." -- Read our review

"What makes Child of Light meaningful is the way that Aurora grows emotionally stronger. Eventually we have to leave the realms of fairy tales behind and face the challenges of reality once more, but Lemuria is the kind of fantasy realm that stays with you as long as you remain a child somewhere in your heart." -- Read our review

"Danganronpa is an excellent adventure with a story that celebrates the human spirit, even during the darkest times, and that optimistic viewpoint made me smile even when everything seemed to be going wrong." -- Read our review

"With so many goals to pursue, Dragon's Crown is much larger than most beat-'em-ups, and more action-packed than most role-playing games. It's both beautiful and captivating in its style and execution, and overall, it's a great hybrid of two very different genres." -- Read our review

"Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster is a meticulous refurbishment of one of Square Enix's strongest properties. Both games stand the test of time and are worth the admittedly significant time investment, even if you don't hold a deep-rooted, nostalgic association to the original releases." -- Read our review

"Guacamelee is one of the strongest games on the PlayStation Network, period. The responsive controls and a grin-inducing sense of humor make it near impossible to put down, and the expressive use of color will warm the hearts of even the most cynical among us." -- Read our review

"Hotline Miami's vague and unsatisfying ending may irritate some, but it shouldn't stop you from enjoying this wonderful barrage of the senses. Hotline Miami is a discotheque of death that's very hard to walk away from, and a fantastic twitch shooter with a confident sense of style." -- Read our review

Limbo prompts questions such as, "Who would put a bear trap up there?"

"This is a delicately crafted adventure whose elements tie seamlessly together. The fact that you can finish the entire game in just a few hours is disappointing only because it's so difficult to pull yourself away once you've been sucked in." -- Read our review

"This is the game that your Vita has been waiting for. For months, the shiny handheld has been aching to show you what it's really capable of, and with the arrival of Little Big Planet PS Vita, it finally has an opportunity to do so." -- Read our review

"The original game's Puzzle mode, in which you were challenged to create various shapes from the falling blocks, is unfortunately absent, but Lumines: Electronic Symphony is still very much a complete package." -- Read our review

"In the case of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, not only are we treated to excellent ports of timeless gaming gems, but the added features are, for the most part, justifiable and unique enough to warrant yet another purchase of these games you've likely played or owned in the past" -- Read our review

"Mortal Kombat is one of the most complete fighting games around--not to mention one of the bloodiest. It's visually impressive too, rendering the gory action at an impressively smooth frame rate, even if it does lack some of the finer detail and anti-aliasing of the console versions." -- Read our review

"OlliOlli is a great fit for the portable. Its bite-size stages are great for quick play sessions when you've got only a few minutes to spare, and mastering all the game's challenges takes awhile if you want to hunker down for longer periods of time." -- Read our review

Fostering social relationships makes up a large part of Persona 4 Golden.

"Persona 4 remains one of the most engaging, thoughtful, and enjoyable RPGs of recent years. Persona 4 Golden's well-thought-out and well-implemented augmentations serve to make an already fantastic game even better, resulting in a superlative game experience that belongs in any Vita game library." -- Read our review

"It's almost unfair to compare Rogue Legacy to other games that emphasize permanent death. It doesn't have the secrets of Spelunky and it's more predictable than The Binding of Isaac, yet at the end of every game comes a desire to hop right back in, spend your gold on some upgrades and rack up more monster kills, something the game encourages with a challenging new-game-plus option that appears after the credits roll." -- Read our review

"No matter how you choose to play, Sound Shapes goes beyond its inventive musical premise to keep you invested. The platforming is just as well executed as the score, and the flexible editor lets you extend the life of this game indefinitely. Sound Shapes is an impressive adventure that's as much fun to play as it is to listen to." -- Read our review

"After first surfacing on the Xbox 360 and PC, Spelunky has finally found its ideal match on the Vita. Being able to spend a few minutes excavating whenever the mood strikes you works incredibly well for a game in which death is quick and severe, and the big screen and solid controls ensure that even longer play sessions are an utter delight." -- Read our review

"Tearaway's most lasting feature is not within the game itself, but through the inclusion of printable blueprints. It's just a shame that one of the Vita's best experiences feels as long as a piece of paper is thick." -- Read our review

"Terraria is a perfect fit on the Vita. Playing this adventure on a handheld is a huge bonus to a game that was already incredibly well made. It takes a special game to make you fully care about all the little activities you're taking part in while still keeping your eye on a faraway prize, and Terraria deftly balances those ideas." -- Read our review

"Despite the occasional frustration of visual pollution, all the aspects of TxK come together to make it a wonderful merger of what made an arcade classic fun and what makes modern twitch-based games enthralling." -- Read our review

"Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for the Vita may feel inviting at first, but when you sink a little deeper, you discover a game in which victory and defeat hinge on a fine line. It's a high-risk, high-reward system that buries you in a brightly colored light show at the slightest misstep." -- Read our review

"Taken strictly on its own merits, however, Ys: Memories of Celceta is a wonderful adventure. It's great fun to wander in the forests and dungeons, bashing foes and finding lost treasures to uncover ancient secrets." -- Read our review

"As fun and challenging as the brainteasers in the room escapes are, they're merely dressing for the fantastic writing, memorable characters, and stunning plot twists that could only be presented successfully in a game format. This is an adventure that fans of the genre--or those who appreciate quality storytelling in general--should not miss." -- Read our review

* GameSpot's Best Of Lists will be updated periodically as new games worthy of inclusion are released on their respective platforms.

I really want Dragon's Crown and FFX/X-2 HD on the Vita but sadly don't have one. I mean to buy one soon though because I also want Marumasa: Demon Blade remake, too. I wish Sony loved its handheld as much as Nintendo does.

I picked my vita last week along with Persona 4, FFX HD, Rayman Legends and whatever is free on PS+ and I am very satisfied with my purchase. Only played a bit of Rayman because I've been really enjoying Persona 4. Have not touched FFX. Might pick up Persona 3 after I'm done with all the vita games I currently have.

Seriously, that's the biggest problem I have with the ps vita, many of the games take up 100% of my memory card (I have a 4GB one), which means that i have to repeatedly delete a game to download another. That also means I have to repeatedly backup and/or retrieve my save data, since deleting a game also deletes all save data associated with it.

About to get a huge check from work (there were issues with our income amount for about a year now, and the difference is about to be made up for) so I'll be getting one soon, some "Best Vita games" lists are definitely appreciated.

@Spartan_418 I agree. It's always getting overlooked by people because they assume it's 'just another shooter'. They never really take into account what Guerrilla managed to achieve on a mobile device. I am amazed by it every time I open the game, it almost doesn't seem real.

@prime_l The problem is that most people don't want to buy one solely to play or stream games that already exist. It needs its own dedicated library, not just ports from every other PlayStation console. The prime function of every gaming device should be its own, standalone selection of games. Remote Play and PSOne games should only be an added bonus and not the major selling point.

It's an underrated piece of hardware, but in terms of software, it's severely lacking, and that's why no-one wants to buy to praise it.

That's one of my main reasons for buying the Vita. I don't have a ps3 or ps4 and I would like to play some of those games and upcoming Japanese imports on the go since I rather sit in front of a computer than play on a console if I'm at home. I am considering a ps4, but really a lot of those games are also on the PC so those games right now aren't system sellers for me.

@Artwark@wolf503 Nope. I will always buy the console version because it will always be superior to the Vita port. I only intend to use my Vita for exclusives, in which case, it's proved to be near useless. Besides, with Remote Play, there's almost no reason to buy the Vita version when you can just stream it from PS4. As far as I can see, all these console ports are only of any use to people that don't already own a PS3 or PS4, which is a shame, seeing as they're trying to market the PS4/Vita as the perfect pairing!

@Artwark@wolf503 Yeah, so far all I've bought for my Vita is China Town Wars which is a PSP game and LBP Vita. Only other 2 games I want is Tearaway and Murasaki Baby but since there's such a lack in exclusives I'm not going to spend the money to buy those games till I've finished the 2 I've already got. There's nothing else that really gets my attention too. Borderlands 2 would be okay if the save files transfered between PC and Vita and not just PS3 and Vita, but that's still a +. Still a good option to have but I guess Sony want to have more titles converted to on the go versions than having exclusives for the Vita.

@TomMcShea@Silverline62 Well, Uncharted isn't that great to begin with, but unique games like
Tearaway is what the system needs to shine. I'd rather have 2-3 of those
yearly, because they speak the language of the Vita than have none at
all.